New turbo engine under development at Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover is developing a new 2.0-liter, turbocharged gasoline engine that could serve as a fuel-efficient option to its larger power plants, company president Joe Eberhardt remarked at the 2015 Automotive News World Congress. He, however, noted that many luxury vehicle customers don’t really care if six or eight cylinder engines are powering their vehicles, adding that they now “place more emphasis on going easy at the pump.”

He added that customers are now more interested in performance rather than the technology under the hood. Jaguar Land Rover is developing the new engine in-house and plans to produce its at its new $750-million engine plant in the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, the carmaker is planning to offer diesel engine options on every model in its product lineup. Jaguar Land Rover’s 2.0-liter diesel will be first offered in the Jaguar XE compact sedan. The carmaker will also offer a 3.0-liter V6 turbo diesel on the 2016 Range Rover.

Eberhardt remarked that the Jaguar and the Land Rover brands “have been reborn” under Tata Motors. He noted that the carmaker only needs to concentrate on two brands, unlike others that have to look after eight to nine marques.

The brands found it difficult to survive when they were still part of Ford’s luxury unit as they have to compete internally for funding and resources against Volvo and Aston Martin.

Jaguar Land Rover sold 9-percent more vehicles in 2014 to 462,678, and is expected to top 500,000 sales sooner or later. “You don’t necessarily have to be big to be successful,” Eberhardt said.